Southwest already has a lot on its plate without additional acquisitions: international expansion, a new reservations system and expansion of its ancillary service capabilities. With all of the consolidation in the U.S. airline industry, there is a lot less to buy even if Southwest had the inclination.

Southwest Airlines emphasizes how it cares about its employees yet it chose to ignore the legacy of AirTran in designing Southwest's new "Heart" livery. It wouldn't have taken much to include AirTran, and it would have meant a lot.

Losing AirTran was a crushing blow to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, but the facility has come most of the way back. It's tough for a non-hub airport to recover from such a blow when many airlines are focusing on international service.

Southwest has no imminent change in policy in the works regarding fees, but that doesn't mean that it considers having no bag fees its religion. The airline is willing to mull policy changes if it determines that a big switch would be in its interests.

In a signal of the further integration of AirTran, Southwest Airlines' first flight to San Juan arrived April 14. AirTran had already been flying to San Juan and previously operated the Orlando-San Juan flight.